[Beowulf] NCSU and FORTRAN

Jim Lux James.P.Lux at jpl.nasa.gov
Sat Sep 9 18:48:13 PDT 2006


At 06:43 AM 9/8/2006, Mark Hahn wrote:
>>>>I've had grad students and profs in the past get good results using
>>>>Matlab, intel and the intel MKL.
>>>
>>>it's worth making explicit again: grad students and profs
>>>are not elegible for the "non-commercial" free Intel license.
>>
>>Again, what? The intel fortran free non-commercial unsupported CANNOT be
>>used by graduation or in a scientific lab at an university? Why? Where
>>is this in theirs license?
>
>Intel says explicitly that you only qualify for the non-comm license
>if you do not receive any form of financial compensation for using it.
>
>thus a grad student normally gets a stipend, and so would NOT 
>qualify as non-commercial.  if the grad student is only using it as 
>part of a hobby, or as part of a charity project, they would 
>qualify.  use in a classroom/lab
>is also "commercial" to Intel because the university is being paid. 
>Intel supports this interpretation by offering specific classroom licenses
>and academic discounts.
>
>Intel is just redefining "non-commercial", which the rest of the 
>universe uses to mean "not a for-profit company".


And, given the interest in universities (and other research labs) in 
deriving income from intellectual property developed... I think you 
could make a case that research activities are considered a "income 
source" for many of these.  The overall institution might be 
not-for-profit, but activities within aren't.

It's also easier for intel to define it this way.. If you use the 
not-for-profit kind of criteria you wind up with all sorts of 
discussion about "expense reimbursement", "facility chargebacks", 
whether you have a 501(c)3 letter, etc.  You can't just say, I spend 
more than I make, so I'm not-for-profit: Amazon.com didn't make any 
profit for many years

Sort of like amateur, with respect to athletics.

To me, the license reads pretty clear... you can fool with it at home 
to learn about the product, and tinker to your heart's content, but 
don't do it as a "job" or for "product development".



James Lux, P.E.
Spacecraft Radio Frequency Subsystems Group
Flight Communications Systems Section
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 161-213
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
tel: (818)354-2075
fax: (818)393-6875 





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